New York Giants finds Atlanta Falcons offense-less

New York finds Atlanta offense-less

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, October 15, 2007

ATLANTA -- The New York Giants are on another roll. Now, they've got to sustain it.

Eli Manning passed for 303 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Giants to their fourth consecutive win, 31-10 over the hapless Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

The Giants (4-2) took control after a wild first quarter in which the teams combined for 24 points. New York scored the final 24 points of the game to send the Michael Vick-less Falcons tumbling to their fifth loss in six games.

The Giants have bounced back after starting the season with losses to Dallas and Green Bay, but they must be mindful of the collapse that knocked them out of the playoffs a year ago.

"I thought sometimes we did play well offensively, and then sometimes we did not," he said. "There were some issues."

Manning threw a pair of touchdown passes and set up another New York TD with three consecutive completions, which lessened the damage of two interceptions and losing a fumble when John Abraham knocked the ball loose just before the quarterback's arm went forward.

It also helped to be playing the Falcons, who are averaging just 13.2 points a game.

"They are a good defensive football team," Coughlin said. "They have some problems, obviously, on the offensive side of the ball."

Manning was 27 of 39 and put up his highest total since a 312-yard performance against the Cowboys in Week 1.

He hooked up with Amani Toomer on a 5-yard scoring pass in the back-and-forth opening period. Before the half was done, Manning went deep for a 43-yard touchdown to Plaxico Burress that gave the Giants a 21-10 lead; Burress turned to the crowd and bowed after getting wide open.

The Falcons have little reason to take a bow. Their offense is dreadful, a striking contrast to the high-scoring teams that Bobby Petrino coached in college.

Playing behind a patched-up line, Joey Harrington was sacked four times, had several passes deflected at the line and did plenty of scrambling to avoid New York's fearsome pass rush, which had tied a league record with 12 sacks of Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb two weeks earlier.

Harrington was 18 of 39 for 209 yards.

Petrino must be wondering why he left a college powerhouse at Louisville.

"I'm frustrated, everybody's frustrated," he said. "We've just got to keep working at it. Eventually, it's going to turn."